Ash and Dust
by Cloudsticks
Summary: Ash returns to Kanto and didn't expect to fall in love with his former rival.
1. Arrivals

The boat came to a stop at Pallet Town. "I'm so glad you decided to come back to Kanto with me, Ash!" exclaimed Lillie, delightedly.

"Heh-hah, me too! It's gonna be really nice to finally see mom again! Mr. Mime and Professor Oak too!" Ash replied with excitement. The couple, along with Nebby and Pikachu, eagerly grabbed their belongings and disembarked the ship. This all seemed very familiar to Ash, the way the trees swayed in the breeze, the faint squawk of Pidgey, rustling in the trees. Ash felt right at home, though something was missing but he wasn't quite sure what. "It's no Alola, but this place is really nice, I wonder where the nearest library is..." vocalized Lillie, excusing that she had only just arrived and not yet found a place to stay. "You're getting ahead of yourself, let's go and see my mom, maybe she will let you crash for a while."

Ash stepped along the white stone path, leading to his door. He knocked, nervous to see his mom's expression, for she had not known he was coming to visit. The door opened, "MIME! MIME!", Mr. Mime jumped up and down in excitement, Pikachu wandered in.

"Who is it, Mimey?" echoed a voice down the halls, Ash's mom wandered to the door,

"Ash! What a surprise! Oh my!" she caressed her son and hugged tight,

"Hehe, nice to see you too mom!" Ash giggled. Delia noticed the attention of a young girl stood beside him,

"Oh, Ashy! Did you finally get a girlfriend!?" she squealed.

"Oh, no mom" Ash brushed off, nervously, "This is Lillie, we just got back from Alola. It's is her first time in Pallet Town, her first time in Kanto really. I was wondering if she could possibly stay here for a while, with me, with you, of course." Ash asked, unsure of his mom's response.

"Of course dear! Any friend of my son's a friend of mine and welcome to stay for however long they want! Come in, both of you! Make yourself at home!" Ash gladly hugged his mom once again and headed up stairs, Lillie followed. "Why don't you go say hi to Professor Oak while I prepare dinner?" Delia continued.

"Your mom seems great, please make sure she knows how much I appreciate it for letting me stay here." Lillie said thankfully while unzipping her bag, releasing Nebby.

"Yeah, she really is, and I will, don't worry. I just wish she'd stop going on about me getting a girlfriend." he uttered, "But I'm not brave enough to tell her the truth."

"What truth?" Lillie asked with curiosity,

"It doesn't matter" Ash twisted a doorknob, "You can stay in this room, my room's across the hall, but right now we better go and see Professor Oak and let him know we're in Kanto." They stumbled down the stairs, Pikachu introduced Nebby to Mr. Mime as they were getting reacquainted.

"Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes, why don't you ask Oak if he'd like to join us?" Delia suggested as Ash left, with Lillie following.


	2. Reintroductions

Ash and Lillie arrived at Professor Oak's laboratory. They knocked on the door, which wasn't an unfamiliar situation today. Oak opened the door, "Ah Ash, nice to see you again!" The couple shuffled in while Oak turned to Lillie, "Who may you be?"

"Uh, my name's Lillie, we just came here from Alola."

"Alola! I've heard of many mysterious and intriguing Pokémon from that region. How was your trip?" Oak guided the two to his work station, Ash saw a familiar trainer chilling on the sofa. "Ahem, Ash?" Oak alerted, he noticed that he no longer had Ash's attention, "Oh, I almost forgot to mention. You remember my grandson, Gary, right?" Ash, trying not to panic, quickly glanced back up at the professor.

"Of course, too well." he replied. The phone in another room started to ring.

"Excuse me while I get that" Oak rushed."Hey Ashy boy", Gary smirked.

Ash felt a drop in his stomach, "Why are you here..?"

"I thought I'd come visit my grandpa, it also seems I'm going to have to stay for a while too since my research lab is being renovated," Ash couldn't handle being in Gary's presence. He'd had the longest and most destroying crush on him since they met. It took him years of travelling to get over the fact they couldn't be together, as Gary was straight. "What's up, Ash? You seem lost for words." Ash looked away, he faced Lillie, who was puzzled. Professor Oak returned to the now-awkward ambience, "One of my assistants is claiming to have found a blue Charmander, quite interesting really. Ah, anyway, may I get you three anything to eat or drink?"

"About that, my mom is wondering if you'll join us for dinner today," Ash nervously said with a twisted stomach.

"Splendid! Gary'll come too!" announced Oak. Ash couldn't think of an excuse to not invite Gary and didn't want to seem rude. "Nice, I haven't ate in while." Gary declared while staring Ash in the eye.

"Um.. well, we better go now, it should be ready soon." Ash left the building first, followed by the rest. Arriving back home, Delia was delighted to see Oak had agreed to join them to eat, "Nice for you to join us! You too, Gary!" she cheered. Ash groaned, he sat down on the floor to play with Nebby and Pikachu while the others sat at the table. "What's up, Ash?" his mother asked,

"It's nothing, just not.. hungry right now, that's all," he replied anxiously, "I think I'm going to have a walk around Pallet for a while, make myself familiar with it again,"

"Don't be too late, and make sure to come back before your food gets cold," his mom replied. Ash picked himself off the floor and headed for the door, calling a "See you guys later," to the dining group. Ash wandered out and headed behind his house, so he could be alone while he aches. He pushed his back against the white panelled wall and he slowly slid down, till he was sat on the ground. He noticed the gentle sound of a pitter patter getting closer, "Pika?!", Pikachu had found Ash. Ash sighed in gratitude that it was just his Pokémon pal, and nobody else. The confused electric-type shuffled onto Ash's lap. Ash slowly clenched his jet-black shirt, right over his heart. Pikachu muffled a sound of confusion. "Pikachu, I'm so glad you're not experiencing the pain that I am in right now..." Ash cried. Pikachu attempted to hug Ash, but he could not fit his stubby arms around him.

"Ashy boy?", Ash heard a calling, and it wasn't the voice of Lillie, his mother or Professor Oak. Ash wasn't sure what to do, he covered his complexion with his navy-blue jacket in attempt to hide, even though it was still very obvious he was there. Gary peered around the corner, "What are you doing around here?"

"I want to be alone," Ash groaned.

"What's the matter?" Gary questioned.

"Can you leave please?" Ash anxiously asked as he was becoming impatient.

"C'mon, Ashy, tell me what's wrong," Gary begged. A single tear fell down Ash's hidden face. His voice began to shake,

"Gary, please just-" he couldn't finish his sentence.

"Ash I'm not leaving till you tell me-" Gary pleaded as he was cut off by Ash,

"If you really want to know what the problem is, it's you!" he blurted as he revealed his now, sobbed, wet expression.

"Wha-? I'm not sure I understand?" Gary unsurely replied.

"I've embarrassed myself too much already..." Ash cried, Gary kneeled down beside him, Pikachu softly growled. "You're the reason I was scared to come back to Kanto.." Ash continued, Gary gave a stern look of confusion. "But I still had a bit of hope that I wouldn't have to see you again, that you wouldn't be here when I came back..." ,

"Why? What did I ever do to you...?" Gary felt an unnecessary feeling of guilt, though he had no reason for he didn't know why he had upset Ash.

"You always teased me when we were younger, always bragged about how you were ahead of me at everything..."

"Ash, that was so long ago, we've resolved things since then." Gary replied.

"But there was something so wrong, but so right about all of it, it made me feel... I can't," Ash stopped.

"What do you mean?"

Lillie found the two behind the house, "Um, guys? Delia said your foods getting cold and she'd like it if you came and join us."

"Sure thing Lillie, we're coming now..." Ash stood up and regained his strength as he wiped his tears away. They returned to the house, Delia knew Ash was crying, she could always recognize the post-breakdown, bright-red face of her son. She didn't want to say anything about it as she knew it could just upset him some more,

"Sit down Ash, I've made your favorite," she said, as she put an arm around her boy, while holding dishes in the other hand, she patted his back and released, giving him the option to sit down. Gary sat across from Ash, trying to comprehend what had just happened and figure out what Ash meant. The two made no eye contact and continued to eat.

"This is really nice food, Mrs. Ketchum," Gary complimented.

"Thank you, Gary, I really appreciate it!" she gratefully replied. A few moments had past and Ash had finished eating,

"Thank you mom." Ash politely thanked as he tucked his chair under the table and slowly made his way upstairs.

"Does anybody know what's up with him? Lillie? Oak?... Gary?" Delia concerned.

"No... sorry," Lillie replied, feeling helpless.

"Gary, do you?" Delia looked at Gary while he continued to eat.

"Um, no Mrs. Ketchum, he's fine. We just talked about his trip to Alola," Gary lied. Delia knew Gary wasn't telling her the truth.

"Can you go up and check on him please?" Delia asked. Gary, with food to spare, wiped his mouth with a napkin and nudged his chair under the table. He nervously walked up the stairs, unsure of which room was Ash's, he attempted to open all of the doors until he discovered that one was locked. Gary knocked on the door, he waited for a while and to no surprise, Ash didn't open.

"Ashy, c'mon, open up," Gary insisted , continually knocking gently. He heard footsteps getting closer to the door, "Ash.." he smiled in expectation that he'd open the door,

"What do you want..?" Ash asked softly through the still-locked door.

"Just let me in.. please, I just want to talk," Gary pleaded. The doorknob began to turn, Ash opened the the door, though he would not face Gary. Gary entered the room while Ash made his way back to sit down on his bed. "What did you mean earlier?" Gary asked, stood in front of Ash.

"Gary, I've been hiding this from you for the longest time, ever since the day we met, I've had such a dying liking for you... I can't believe I'm saying this, oh god..."

"Well, of course you like me? Right? Friends are meant to like each other?" Gary said as he sat down beside Ash.

"Gary, I like you. I like like you," Ash shied. Gary came to realization of what Ash meant. He didn't know how to feel, or what to say. "I hate myself, now that I've seen you again, I think the feelings are starting to come ba-" Ash was cut off by a caress against his lips, he could no longer speak. They both closed their eyes and Ash placed his hand on Gary's thigh. Lillie slowly peered through the door, without catching the boys' attention. "That makes sense." she thought to herself. She made her way back downstairs without making her presence known. Gary pulled away from the kiss, leaving Ash speechless. Gary left the room immediately, regretting what he had just done.


	3. Regrets

Ash had never been so confused and could not comprehend what had just happened. His childhood friend, rival and crush had just kissed him. "That felt so unreal..." he thought to himself. He made his way downstairs to see if Gary had left, not only had he left, but Professor Oak too. He noticed Gary had left his jacket on the back of the chair. Ash had noticed he had an excuse to go and see Gary again, he picked up the jacket and headed for the Professor's lab. He knocked. Gary opened the door, he couldn't face Ash. Before handing over the the jacket, he asked "Gary.. what just happened..?" while he had the chance. Gary was reluctant to reply and was just eager to get his over wear back, he reached for it as Ash tugged it back. "Gary, tell me..." Ash demanded. Gary blushed in embarrassment,

"I'm sorry Ash, please forget that happened. I'm straight, I don't know what came over me, please don't think any further of it."

"Straight? Right." Ash replied, "I'm not handing your jacket back until you explain." Gary had no other choice. He stepped outside and quietly shut the door, so his grandfather wouldn't be able to hear the conversation that was about to happen.

"Ash... looking at you pained on your bed. There was something about it. You looked so cute, gah, that's not that I mean." Gary felt disgusted.

"Do you feel the same.. way?" Ash asked, unsure of the response he was going to receive.

"NO! Not at all!" Gary yelled, "Ugh, I'm sorry for shouting. Ash, we can't be together. I'm straight.",

"Evidently not." Ash wasn't leaving without a proper explanation,

"Ash, it's hard to explain." Gary sighed, Ash waited. "Ash, I loved teasing you when we were younger. I guess you could say there's... something... sadistic about it. The truth is, I've always liked you too, but I tried to stay away. I knew I couldn't be with another guy. My reputation. What my family and friends would think. Ash, I've had the biggest crush on you, when you said you liked me back, I felt full, but still empty because... I can't be with you. I'm sorry I kissed you. Please just forget it,"

"But.. I can't. I'd dreamt of that moment forever," Ash admitted. Gary began to sob, Ash was unsure of what to do. He leaned in for a hug, in attempt to comfort Gary. Gary pushed him away,

"Ash, please. Just forget everything," he begged. Gary slammed the door. Ash, feeling broken, returned home.

A week had past. Ash and Lillie were chilling in Ash's room together with Pikachu and Nebby. The atmosphere in the room was cheery, Lillie glanced at the bed, at the spot where she witnessed first base. Lillie broke, "Ash, I saw you and your friend in here together last week.." she announced. Ash shakily turned to her, he started to panic and hoped she didn't see what she was about to say. Lillie noticed Ash's distraught, "It's fine." she placed a hand on his shoulder, "I won't tell anybody, I promise," Ash didn't realize how much he valued Lillie as a friend, " I'm sorry I didn't tell you how I feel about him, maybe you could've helped me... I won't keep anything a secret from you from now on." Ash vowed. Lillie faintly smiled,

"So, what's happening with you two?" she asked.

"I wish I knew, when I confronted him he just told me to forget and leave it," Ash replied, lightly shrugging with a half-smirk of sorrow.

"But he feels the same way, doesn't he?" Lillie's curiosity rose higher.

"Lillie.. I .. I don't know." Ash shook his head, "He's scared that his friends and family will think less of him."

"If something happens between you, you don't have to tell his family. Besides, they don't live around here do they?" Lillie implied.

"Well I can't do anything now..." Ash replied.


	4. Memories

"Ash, we're low on essentials, can you and Lillie head to the store and big up some milk and bread?" Delia asked.

"Uh, sure thing mom," Ash grabbed his coat from the rack while Lillie picked up some spare change off of the kitchen table. "Is there enough money there Lillie?" Ash asked, while she counted it, then nodded. The duo headed out to the shop, on the way Lillie noticed that Ash was looking down, "I know this is a sad time for you right now but I'm always here for you, Ash," Lillie comforted.

"I'll be fine, probably not for a while, but sometime... in the future, I'll be okay," Ash sighed. They arrived at the supermarket and picked up a basket, to put in Delia's requests and some personal favourite snacks. Walking down an aisle, Ash saw a glance of purple turn around the corner, "Oh.. no.." he worried, could it be Gary's signature shirt? At self-checkout, Ash and Lillie unloaded the basket and payed for their goods, they began to put their items in bags when suddenly, Ash froze.

"Ash..?!" Lillie worried, then she noticed Gary walking towards checkout. Ash quickly focused again trying not to look at the chestnut-haired boy. He waited until Gary finished bagging his groceries and left before Ash left the store, upon exit he came across a wallet on the ground and he knew exactly who it belonged to. Ash began to panic, does he do the right thing and catch up to Gary to return it, or does he just leave it in favour of his own mental health. Though he was in no state to see Gary again, deep down he really wanted to gaze into his memorising eyes once more.

"Gary!" Ash shouted, though Gary just continued to walk in the distance, "Gary!" He alerted once more. Ash wasn't prepared to face him, he was proud of himself just for being able to say his name twice without crying for once. Gary peered around and suddenly an overwhelming feeling of dread shocked him, he saw Ash shaking, holding out his wallet. They creeped closer to each other, "Uh, you dropped this..." Ash croaked, putting his hand forward. Gary stood silent and grasped his wallet, He turned around and took four steps away before he turned back around,

"Ash..." Gary sniffed "I'm sorry if I upset you last week, I don't want there to be any tension between us, do you maybe wanna come over tomorrow to play video games or something...?" he gulped. Ash didn't even think about it, "Sure... that sounds cool," Ash chuffed. Gary smiled softly and headed home.

"Did he just asked you on a date?" Lillie asked as they continued to walk back to the Ketchum house.

"No?! Uh, I mean, surely not? We're only going to play video games, there's nothing romantic about that. Anyway, I'm sure it's just to clear things up," Ash guessed.

"Are you sure you're mentally stable to spend a day with him?" Lillie consoled.

"Not at all, maybe this will help me though," Ash could only hope.

Gary trekked home as he worried for tomorrow, "I hope Ash doesn't think I'm trying to make a move on him or anything, this is just gonna be a fun, cool guys day. I'll order pizza and we can have a good time, since every moment we've spent together since he came back hasn't been so great... apart from the kiss... Gah! Gary get a hold of yourself!" He whispered to himself into the summer air. "Nothing can happen between us, my family will disown me..." Once Gary got back to the lab, he placed the groceries on the kitchen table and then made his way into his bedroom. He set up the gaming console in preparation for the next day. Looking through his old video games he began to reminisce all of the great memories he and Ash had shared playing the games together. He picked up on of their favourites, Pokémon Crossing, smiled and recalled all of the fun times. He picked up Super Catch Bros. and remembered all the times he would tease Ash for not being able to beat him, Gary chuffed and put the disc in the GameCube, ready for the morning.


	5. Incidents

The day had arrived. Ash excitedly, but nervously, lifted himself out of bed, he sat on the edge for a while before he gained the energy to get up and go to the bathroom. He turned on his Pokedex and played one of his favourite songs while he brushed his teeth, and showered. Ash wasn't sure of what to wear for the day, he wanted to wear something nice, but casual. After a few minutes of wondering, he decided upon a white polo tee and some dark-blue, denim skinny jeans, he finished the look with a nice pair of converse sneakers. Ash never really bothered with his hair, it had a mind of its own and never really did what Ash wanted, but that was alright since Ash wore a cap the majority of the time anyway. He creaked down the pine wood stairs, "Good morning, Ashy," his mom greeted,

"Morning mom," he replied, he saw that she had already made breakfast, and it was his favourite too, pancakes with golden syrup. He sat down and devoured the meal then wiped his mouth.

"Glad you enjoyed! It's about time you got your appetite back," Delia delighted.

"You know how much I love pancakes mom," Ash said with greed.

"I sure do, where's Lillie?" She questioned.

"She's still sleeping, she probably won't be awake for another hour or two, Nebby kept her awake all last night," Ash replied.

"Ah, bless her. Are you headed out today?" Delia continued.

"Uh, yeah, I'm spending the day with Gary, old times sake," Ash added with a deep down feeling of excitement.

"That's great, have fun," she wished the boy as he left through the door.

On the way to Professor Oaks laboratory, Ash started to tremble, he wasn't sure why he exactly agreed to this, he just took at any chance he had to see Gary, whether it was good for for him or not, and in most cases, seeing Gary wasn't good for him.. at all. "You can do this..." he assured to himself under his breath. He arrived at Gary's abode and was anxious to knock, he lifted his arm and place his knuckles gently on the door, he retaliated. He thought about what he was about to do, he could easily just turn back now and not have to face him. Ash took a deep breath and rested his fist against the door once again and lightly knocked, almost silently. Little did Ash know, Gary was waiting behind the door, eagerly, but tensely, awaiting his arrival. He opened the door and welcomed Ash into his home,

"Hey, come in," he guided the shorter, hazel-eyed boy inside, "I already set up the console," he stated, walking towards his bedroom, Ash following.

"Uh, sounds good," Ash wasn't sure how to feel, with Gary now in his presence and with them under good terms, he wish he didn't worry as much as he did. It felt nice. Ash sat down on the same old sofa that he and Gary used to play video games on all the time when they were younger.

Gary kneeled down by the TV, "I already but Smash in, but we can play something else if you'd rather,"

"Smash sounds fine with me," Ash felt though as if Gary had chosen this game on purpose, they did create a lot of memories playing it after all, or maybe he just really wanted to play it again. Gary passed Ash a controller, player two, he was always Gary's player two. They played one battle before Ash felt completely comfortable beside Gary, "Gah! You beat me!" Ash giggled.

"Sore loser," Gary winked. Ash jokingly nudged Gary as they both laughed. After a few more battles, it was apparent with Ash's loses to win ratio that he wasn't the best at the game, he never was really, it was evident that Gary was far superior,

"You keep beating me!" Ash blurted.

"I can't help it if I'm better than you," Gary boasted, there were no hard feelings, it was just a video game after all. "I'm starting to get a lil' hungry, do you wanna order pizza?" Gary asked, Ash looked up at him and his smirky expression didn't need to be put into words. "Pizza it is!" Gary got up and got a menu from a nearby takeout, does Pizza Express sound alright?"

"They've never seemed to disappoint," Ash replied, it was their favourite takeout food to eat when they were younger and would always order it after a round of video games.

"Alright, let's look at the menu," Gary insisted as he sat back down beside Ash, one arm near Ashes shoulder and the menu in the other hand. Ash just stared at Gary, embracing how cute and handsome he was. "We could get the extra large spicy vegetarian option... or the regular veggie sounds nice," Gary suggested. Ash was paying no attention to the words that had just left his mouth, he was focused on his, plump, peach lips. Gary made the move last time, perhaps it was Ashes turn. "What do you think?" Gary added, lifting his head to look at a gazing Ash. Ash leaned forward and placed his lips on Gary's. Gary didn't want this, but he did at the same time. They started kissing in unison. In the moment, Gary didn't care, he lifted himself over onto Ash, the kissing gradually got faster as Gary was now sat on Ash's lap. Ash placed his hands on Gary's waist and moved them upwards, then slowly back down again, embracing his gorgeous, chiselled figure. Gary started to feel something stiffen under his ass. Ash began to freak but couldn't do anything as they were locked in the make out session. Ash's dick was now fully hard and Gary didn't mind, Gary liked it. He slowly moved up and down on Ash's lap, teasing him. The couple slowly laid down on the sofa, still kissing. Gary was now laid on Ash and his waist was against Ash's erection. Gary lifted his head up from the smooch and just stared at Ash, smiling. Ash was in complete shock. "Ashy Boy, I left my jacket at yours on purpose so you'd have to come around again, I just didn't prepare myself and I freaked. I really like you. I want something between us but I know my family won't allow it." Gary confessed.

Ash licked his wet lips, tasting the strawberry chapstick that had transferred from Gary's lips, "Gary, I really like you, surely we can make this work," he moved his hands underneath Gary's shirt and put them Gary's dimpled back,

"I hope we can make it work too, I'm tired of hiding my feelings for you Ash," Gary rested his head on Ash's chest as Ash began trace his fingers along Gary's body. They eventually ordered food and cuddled for the rest of the night, continuing to play their childhood favourites. The night came to a stop when Lillie knocked on the door, Gary and Ash, wrapped in blankets, supporting messy hair, opened the door.

"Ash it's 11pm, Delia's concerned about you," Lillie notified, "Are you coming home?"

"OH! I didn't realise the time!" Ash turned to Gary, "Thanks for a great day" he pecked Gary's cheek, collected his belongs and left the lab. "Well, that looks like it went really well, are you two a thing now?" Lillie asked while her and Ash walked home.

"I wish, we just... made out... and cuddled a lot..." Ash reminisced, "It was amazing, we discussed a relationship but he's scared about his family disowning him so we're going to take things really slow,". The duo arrived home and went to bed, Ash couldn't believe the amazing day he just had, for the first time in so long, he was happy.


End file.
